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Zod (Episode)
|season=Season 6 |episode=1 (111 in total) |air_date=September 28, 2006 |previous_episode=Vessel |next_episode=Sneeze }}"Zod" is the first episode in the sixth season of Smallville, and the one hundred-eleventh episode overall. It aired on September 28, 2006. Summary Thrown into the Phantom Zone, a jail created by , finds himself without #Powers & Abilities|powers and surrounded by revenge-seeking criminals sent away by his father. Meanwhile, having taken over 's body, keeps captive with a demand to bear him an heir and begins his plans to turn into a -like planet using the alien ship's hard drive. After and 's plane crashes near the , Jor-El tells Martha how to kill Zod. Back at the , reunites with an old flame, Jimmy Olsen. Recap In the , a prison created by , has no powers and is vulnerable to revenge-seeking criminals sent there by his father. He meets Raya, a Kryptonian who was his father's assistant. She explains that Jor-El founded the Phantom Zone as a prison for Kryptonians as well as intergalactic criminals from the "28 known galaxies". Most of them lose their corporeal bodies and become Phantoms, but as Krypton was being destroyed, Jor-El put her in the Phantom Zone for her own survival. Raya says a stone Jor-El gave her is her only weapon against the phantoms. Clark tells her that Zod has returned to Earth, but she doubts that Clark can stop him. She also explains to Clark that there is an exit out of the Phantom Zone, a gateway designed by Jor-El in case anyone in his family were imprisoned there. Lionel rescues Chloe from an angry mob and they seek safety in the LuthorCorp building, only to discover Zod/Lex has kidnapped Lana and flown away. They try to decide how to stop Lex as Zod. Lionel knows that Jor-El gave Clark a dagger and says he will go back to the Kent Farm to retrieve it. Chloe is surprised that Lionel will resort to killing Lex and suggests they try to read the symbols, but Lionel knows that Clark is the only one who can read them. He says the connection he felt at the Fortress is gone. He gives her a gun, tells her to take care of herself, and leaves for the . Chloe goes back to the to try to decipher the symbols. At the Planet, Chloe is shocked to run into Jimmy Olsen, with whom she had a summer romance while in high school. He is now a photographer at the Planet. keeps captive and drags her to the . She realizes that Lex has been taken over and watches as Zod touches the ship and makes it disappear. He tells her that he intends for her to bear him an heir and begin his plans to turn into a -like planet using the alien ship's hard drive. Lana tries to stop Lex/Zod and he keeps her in place by pinning her hand against the wall with a knife. He leaves to infiltrate the Pentagon, where he plans to control Earth's satellites. When he leaves, Lana is able to pull the knife out and free herself. and 's plane crashes near the . Martha drags an unconscious Lois to the Fortress and has her first conversation with Jor-El. She accuses him of crashing their plane, but he explains that she was, in fact, taken by Milton Fine and he saved them. He tells her that Clark is banished forever by Zod. He tells Martha about the dagger he gave Clark and how Zod must be stopped and killed in order to save the world. He thanks Martha for being such a good mother for his son and transports them back to Smallville. Lionel shows up at the Kent farm and Martha explains what she must do. Lana also arrives, looking for Clark and having realized now why Clark was talking about killing Lex. She reasons that she is the only person that would get close enough to use the dagger and offers to kill Lex. She takes the dagger back to the , where Zod is waiting. She tells him that she has agreed to bear his heirs and they start kissing. Thinking he is distracted, she tries to stab him, but he is too quick, and shatters the knife. Angry, he uses the hard drive to activate a satellite which starts an earthquake. He then chokes Lana until she passes out. Clark and Raya make it to the gateway and Raya explains that only a member of the can open the gate. However, they encounter two prisoners, Aethyr and Nam-Ek. Raya pretends that she is using Clark to escape and they start to fight. Raya is able to stab Nam-Ek, but Aethyr retaliates stabbing Raya. She gives Clark her crystal and urges him to escape; he has no choice but to leave her. Clark runs to the portal, placing his bleeding hand on it, pushing him and the other prisoners through. Seven meteor-like objects fall from the sky out of the Phantom Zone, one of them being Clark. He arrives at his farm just in time to save Lionel and Martha from being crushed by the collapsing barn. Lionel and Martha tell him that Lana took the dagger, so he goes to the mansion to confront Zod. Before Zod can choke Lana to death, Clark arrives. He blasts the hard drive with his , which deactivates the satellite and stops the earthquake. They fight and Zod picks Clark up and flies out the window with him. They land in a field and battle. Zod gains the upper hand and commands Clark to kneel before him. He tells him that if they join forces, he will spare the human lives that Clark cares most about. Clark appears to accept his offer and takes Zod's hand. However, in his hand is 's emblem. Zod is sucked out of Lex's body and into the emblem while Lex falls unconscious. Clark goes to the hospital to check on Lois, who remembers being in the Fortress, but she thinks it was heaven. Clark tries to convince her it was just a hallucination. They share an awkward but tender moment. Lex encounters Lana in the hospital as well and she is understandably skittish towards him, showing him the hand he stabbed. Lex tells her he doesn't remember anything, but seems sincerely guilty over having caused such destruction. Lana decides to forgive him. Clark goes to the Planet to check on Chloe, who was extremely worried about him and is relieved to see him. When she runs into his arms, he tries to bring up when she kissed him, but she blows it off and says it won't change their friendship. This is confirmed when she introduces him to Jimmy. It is obvious that Chloe and Jimmy share something, and Clark looks surprised and a little hurt. Back at home, Martha tells Clark that Lionel claims that his connection to Jor-El is gone. Clark tells Martha that he went to the Fortress to talk to Jor-El, bringing along the emblem, but Jor-El didn't answer—it was like the Fortress was dead. He confides in his mother that he doesn't know what to do now... everything has changed. His father is dead, Jor-El is gone, Lex has become his enemy and Lana won't speak to him. She tries to comfort him, but he just looks lost and alone. Meanwhile, Lionel is at his office, writing Kryptonian symbols; he is astonished at what he does and writes "POWER" underneath it. Lex returns to the mansion and opens his laptop to find a part of the object Zod had taken from the ship, half destroyed. In Argentina, a phantom rises from the water and speeds away. Cast Starring * * * * * * * Guest Starring * * * Raya * Nam-Ek * Aethyr * Notes * Antagonist: * There was talk of including Brainiac in the story, but James Marsters was unavailable. * This is the first appearance of Jimmy Olsen. * In Smallville, Jimmy Olsen is played by Aaron Ashmore, the twin brother of Shawn Ashmore, who previously portrayed Eric Summers in Leech and Asylum. * This is the first episode to be broadcast on The CW after the acquisition of The WB eleven days before this episode premiered, The CW started broadcasting the morning afterwards. Vessel was the final episode that was broadcast on The WB (in the terms of newly produced episodes.). * This episode introduces new opening credits with footage from and and is the first set of credits without John Schneider as . * In the DVD version, the scene recap from the previous episode is removed, but it is intact on the Blu-ray version. * The medallion that Raya hands to Clark bears the famous "S" logo that Superman will wear on his suit and cape. * The ending scene with the released phantom is subtitled "Iguazú Falls, Patagonia, Argentina". However, the Iguazú Falls are located in the border between Argentina and Brazil, a few thousand kilometers away from Patagonia. * This is the only time in the series that speaks to . * This is the first time that has ever expressed approval of Clark's upbringing by the . * When Martha speaks to Clark while cleaning up the barn, the stitches on the right side of her head are briefly seen on the left side. * September 28, the air date for this episode, is the best date for , based on information from Wither (The park ranger that Gloria replaces was missing for a week, Lex's invitation for the Benefit Ball is dated October 11, and September 28 is the first Thursday that would match both dates). Trivia * The scenes of the satellites in space can also be seen in the film Batman & Robin, a film that had a cameo appearance in. * Pascale Hutton ( ) was also in 's Ageless as Karen Gallagher. * Leonard Roberts reprised his role as Nam-Ek. * Near the end of the episode, when Clark and Chloe hug, Chloe is not holding anything in her hand but in the next scene of the same hug, she is seen holding papers in her hand. * In addition, the image of Zod's face being extracted from Lex's body is that of Terence Stamp, who played Zod in the Superman II movie and currently voices 's on the show. * This is the 3rd season to begin following a previous season finale that had ended with a "To be continued" credit. Simultaneously this is also the 6th episode to follow a previous episode that ended with that expression. * The fact that the last 2 previous episodes both ended with a "To be continued" credit makes Oracle/''Vessel/''Zod the only official 3-part story in the entire series. * Clark accidentally freeds the Zoners and is followed towards Earth, and feels guilty of this. The same happened to Kara Danvers/Supergirl on Supergirl, as the prison known as Fort Rozz followed her out of the Phantom Zone towards Earth. In Other Media * This episode features the Smallville version of . Zod is traditionally one of Superman's more powerful archenemies in the comics. He is a minor villain in the first Superman film Superman: The Movie and the primary villain in the second Superman feature film Superman II and there are several references from the films. In this episode, he paraphrases the line by Ursa (played by Sarah Douglas in Superman II) "Zod doesn't take orders. He gives them.". In the film and this episode, Zod continually refers to himself in the third person and frequently commands people to "kneel before Zod". The way Clark tricked Lex/Zod is similar to how Superman tricked Zod in Superman II. Also, Raya says that Jor-El created the Phantom Zone to hold criminals from the "28 known inhabited galaxies". In Superman: The Movie, Jor-El also says that there are 28 known galaxies. * Clark's escape from the Phantom Zone is similar to Kara's in the 1984 film Supergirl. In the film, her mentor Zaltar is killed while helping her to escape. Clark believed that the same was true of Raya until discovering that she was still alive in Reunion. * Jimmy traditionally refers to Clark as "C.K." in other versions of the Superman story. Continuity * The two that attack Clark and Raya just before Clark escapes the Phantom Zone are the Disciples of Zod, banished by Clark to the Zone in 's Arrival. * Jimmy Olsen is the boy that Chloe told Lana about in 's Unsafe to whom she lost her virginity after a summer romance when she was 15 in between Vortex & Heat. * The phantom seen at the end of this episode is the same phantom seen in Nemesis and Prototype on a DVD. It is captured in Phantom and becomes in . * appears as the black ship and the Kryptonian black box in this episode meanwhile, James Marsters is seen as Brainiac via archive footage. * This episode marks the first appearance of Superman's iconic S shield on the necklace used to capture the Zoners, and on the gateway from the Phantom Zone. * This is the second season premiere where Lana tries to save Earth by defeating the Kryptonian villain and is subsequently saved by Clark. * This marks the first episode where Chloe carries a firearm. Other episodes include Progeny, Savior, Collateral, & Fortune. * This episode marks the 3rd appearance of Clark's Red jacket/Blue shirt outfit in a season premiere since 's Vortex and 's Arrival. Spoilers * 's fate is revealed when she returns to help Clark fight another escaped prisoner in Fallout. * When the phantoms come out from the Phantom Zone, one can only see 7 shooting stars, though there are 8 escapees. The eight include Gloria, , Baern, Aldar, Dr. Hudson, Titan, , and Clark. Locations * * * * * * Quotes : : All right. Send me back. : : Everything you have done for Kal-El, you have my deepest gratitude. I could not have wished for a brighter light to guide my son. Farewell, Martha Kent. : (possessing ): Zod doesn't take orders. He gives them. : : Clark! Oh my God, I thought you were dead! (she runs into his arms) : : Hi. Um... So did I, for a while there. : : What happened? Where did you go? : : A place I never want to go again. Are you okay? : : Yeah, everything's great now that you're here. (they embrace again) : : Chloe... before I left, there was this moment that we, um... : : You mean when I laid one on you? Don't worry, Clark. It was the end of the world, it's not like I'm expecting us to hook up. : : Um, yeah. Me... me neither. : : Everything's changing. Dad's gone. I can't talk to Lex. And Lana's... I don't know where to go from here. : : Every world needs its heroes, Clark. They inspire us to be better than we are. And they protect from the darkness that's just around the corner Category:Episodes Category:Smallville Episodes Category:Smallville Season 6 Episodes Category:Season Premieres